Big House Texas

Programs: Bighouse texas, inc. ("big house") is a religious work camp for jr. High youth (6-8th grades)who work to repair and repaint needful churches and social agencies. Big house is an acronym, which stands for believing in god and helping others understand through service everywhere. Most churches that will benefit from the work camps are housed in older, historic buildings with aging congregations who cannot afford to pay someone to maintain the buildings or do the necessary repairs themselves. In 1996, a couple of youth directors got together and brought their jr. High youth to do a mission work camp in athens, texas. There were only 25 people in this camp, but together they worked on mt. Selman united methodist church. This became a special project of the united methodist church, and it has continued to grow, as volunteers have come together to make it what it is every year. The work camps involve religious, educational, and charitable activities. Charitable projects done by big house work camps include, but are not limited to the following; painting churches, building wheelchair ramps, doing landscaping, repairing handrails, preparing meals, stocking food at a food pantry, and otherwise assisting church members. The work camps also emphasize spiritual growth, and educational opportunities. The children participate in daily devotionals and worship services. Each morning before anything else has begun, the youth and adults meet for a morning devotion to get the day started. They have a lunch devotional at the work site, sometimes shared with the client. There is an evening worship service for all involved. Educating these youth on the principle of responsibility is another component of the work camps. Responsibility is not just to their home church, but to the church as a whole, and to their community not just at home, but to the world. The lessons learned at these camps is helping to develop servant leaders, and grow them in a way that they will better their world.